SciencePoles news
Recent Polar Science and Climate Change news are featured here. Our news RSS feed will inform you when news are published on this website.
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Ikaite Crystals Show Antarctica Was Affected by Recent Climate Fluctuations
03.05.2012
A new method of reconstructing past climates - which uses water locked inside ikaite crystals in ocean seabed sediment - indicates that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA) may have affected areas as far south as the Antarctic Peninsula.
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Warm Ocean Water Melting Antarctic Ice Shelves from Below
26.04.2012
Results of a new multinational study published in Nature show that warming ocean water making itw way under ice shelves in Antarctica is a major cause of ice loss on the continent. Carried out by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey, Utrecht University, the University of California San Diego and…
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Satellite Mapping Shows Emperor Penguin Populations Almost Double of Previous Estimates
16.04.2012
Using satellite imagery, an international team of scientists have shown that populations of emperor penguins in Antarctica have been severely underestimated. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, estimates that the population stands at 595,000 penguins –almost double previous estimates of 270,000 – 350,000.
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CryoSat Validation Mission Shows Blue Ice Region in Antarctica Rising
31.03.2012
As part of its mission to validate the data ESA’s CryoSat satellite delivers, a team of scientists recently took some field measurements in the blue ice region in the Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica. What the team found is that the elevation of this vast region close to the…
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Surface Lake in Antarctica Offers Clues to Ancient Life on Earth
31.03.2012
Stromatolites in the largest surface lake in Antarctica could help scientists better understand the conditions in which primitive life forms on Earth once thrived. A team of researchers was surprised to find stromatolites (structures that form in shallow water when the biofilms of microorganisms trap and cement grains of sediment and build…
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Ice Shelves in West Antarctica Being Torn Apart
31.03.2012
A study published in the Journal of Glaciology indicates that the ice shelves of West Antarctica are being “torn apart” as the flow of the glaciers which feed into the ice shelves has been accelerating.
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Penguin Breeding Cycles and Populations Affected by Warming along Antarctic Peninsula
26.03.2012
Rising temperatures along the western Antarctic Peninsula are affecting three different species of penguin that share the same breeding grounds in the region, according to research conducted by Prof. Heather Lynch and her colleagues at the Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. Warming conditions have led to the…
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Climate Changes Poses Risk to Antarctic Fur Seal Pups
26.03.2012
A study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology has found that changing weather conditions predicted by climate models might affect the metabolic rates and thus the survival rates of fur seal pups. Windier and wetter conditions predicted in the Antarctic in the coming years could force young seals…
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Vast Antarctic Algal Bloom Can Be Seen from Space
07.03.2012
A massive algal bloom which has appeared off the coast of Mac Robertson Land in Antarctica is so large it is clearly visible to NASA’s Modis satellite.
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Salty Antarctic Soils Suck Moisture from Atmosphere
29.02.2012
Salty soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica suck moisture out of the atmosphere, according to research led by Oregon State University geologist Joseph Levy.
